Way back in 1995 or 1996 one night Dayone was watching a weekly “spooky stories” show on Fuji Television called “Mokuyo No Kaidan”, literally, “Ghost Stories on Thursdays”, and when they aired the previews for the upcoming episode, he was surprised to see that the episode was going to feature none other than Miura Rieko!
Being Huge fans of Pony Canyon j-pop idol group CoCo, we were thrilled whenever we found them in anything, whether it be MORI MORI DREAMS or those wacky WIDE SPECIALS, but this was something else! Plus, It occurred to me that this would be the first time I would be watching lovely Rieko speak and have subtitles so I could understand everything she said!
All week we were on pins and needles waiting for the episode to air, and when the night finally came around, we picked up dinner and drinks , planning to make an event of the airing! So we sat back, and the show’s familiar opening began: a solemn young girl beckoned you to come closer, then her face (with the help of CGI) melted away to reveal skeletal zombie-like visage as the title MOKUYO NO KAIDAN appeared…
And THEN…...Some OTHER episode started!
WHAA! What happened? How come they didn’t show the Rieko episode? Well, we just didn’t know. In fact, it’s still a big mystery though I would later learn (when I became a subscriber) that NGN sometimes got hella wonky with their programming, and should expect problems like this. But at the time… MAN, we were MAD! All week waiting for NOTHING! We could only hope they would correct the oversight and air the CORRECT episode next week!
Argh, so back to waiting…Another whole week til Thursday came up again…
Fortunately, when Mokuyo No Kaidan came on that Thursday night, as soon as it began, we relaxed immediately, for it was INDEED the Rieko episode! YATTA! At Last! With an interesting soundtrack of Pink Floyd’s “Money” as the backdrop, our story "SECRET CIRCLE" began…
The episode’s main character was played by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of SMAP as Shinichi, (but we didn’t know him at the time). Back then, he was simply “The Dude in the episode with Rieko”! Anyway, Shinichi’s the kind of guy who yearns to be what he isn’t. He wants to be popular and rich, and when we first meet up with him, he’s cruising around in a rented sports car, trying to look like one of the upper crust. It’s while waiting on a light that he meets Rieko’s character, the mysterious Maria.
Maria introduces Shinichi to her “exclusive” club, a morose group of members who are obsessed with things of a distinctly macabre nature… When they first arrive at the club, the group is huddled around a TV set watching coverage of a terrible train wreck, and Shinichi is horrified to find that they are betting on how many people have died in the accident. He knows this is strange to say the least, but wanting to be a part of their exclusive club, decides not to say anything, and offers his guess of 10 casualties. The others are surprised at his low guess. “They said it was OVER ten people dead,” they point out. “I WANT it to be ONLY ten", he mumbles.
Well, Tsuyo’s guess is announced as the correct amount, and he is rewarded with a HUGE sum of money. Maria congratulates him and says he’s officially one of the exclusive members, and he should be happy. Shinichi accepts this at first, and uses he money to buy his sister gifts and expensive clothes for himself. But as the days go by and the members bets turn more and more sinister, Tsuyo has to look into himself and decide how much popularity and money is worth in the long run.
As the show ended, the “Crypt Keeper” zombie bid you farewell with echoing laughter and then it went to ending credits… and L <-> R’s jangly, cheerful and sunny song “Day By Day” began, in jarring juxtaposition to the rest of the show! We were like ‘Ehhh? This song doesn’t match the show AT ALL!”
But you know, we watched that episode so much that it started to grow on me, and eventually became “perfect” as the ending song! Such a strange ending- The credits scroll while specters of the morose girl from the beginning of the show (the one that turns into the monster) stand around sullenly in a dimly lit furnished room while this happy music plays on!
P.S: Yes, this is the same Mokuyo No Kaidan that fetured the show "Adventures of the Kaiki Club", that Scooby-Doo-esque kid detective show that starred (among others) a young Takizawa Hideaki!
